Lair of Dreams
Evie’s face twisted into an expression of disgust. “I’m an object reader, not a compass. You can’t just point me north.”
Theta glared. “I’d love to point my foot right up your—”
“Can’t she just read one of these lamps, or a piece of brick?” Memphis interrupted.
“I could. But it would be too much. It’s not particular to any one person,” Evie said, her mouth having to work hard to pronounce particular. “No one appreciates the artistry.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I don’t wanna be here any longer than I have to be. The quicker we find something that looks like it belongs to our ghost, the better,” Memphis said.
While Theta and Evie stood nearby, Theta moving her flashlight around the empty station, Sam kept his flashlight trained on Memphis as he poked into crumbling crevices of brick, looking for any object that might be helpful.
“Nothing,” Memphis said after a while, and wiped his hands on his trousers. “Let’s look down below.”
The four of them walked the dusty tracks, shining their lights along the rocks piled there, kicking at mounds of dirt and watching the bugs scatter.
“There’s nothing here, Memphis,” Sam said.
“Only one place left,” Memphis said, nodding toward the tunnel. “I suppose we’d better go in there.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Theta said.
The dark was oppressive. The flashlights did very little to cut the gloom. Theta kept one hand out in front of her for guidance.
“You would not believe the secrets I have to hold back on the radio,” Evie said, as if the booze had unlocked the cabinet that held all her thoughts and they just kept tumbling out. “People are so lonely so much of the time. Mostly, that’s what I feel, lurking under everything they put in my hands: how utterly, terribly alone people think they are when all they have to do is just reach out and touch someone…”
Evie’s fingers grazed Theta’s shoulder. Theta screamed, and Evie scrambled backward.
Memphis whirled around, knife at the ready. “What is it?”
Theta rested a hand on her heart. “Evil! You wanna give me a heart attack?”
“I was… I was just…” Evie panted. “Making a point.”
“It’s like that time I read your bracelet,” Evie said. “I didn’t want to tell you what I saw, because what if it upset you? Some people never think about that,” Evie said too loudly, with a hard glare at Sam. “About the stuff I carry around with me all the time.”
“What did you see when you read Theta’s bracelet?” Memphis asked.
“She didn’t see anything, Poet. Shut up, Evil!” Theta growled, but she sounded more frightened than angry.
“I did see! I was scared for you, Theta,” Evie said. “All that fire.”
“What’s she bumping her gums about now?” Sam asked.
“She’s drunk. But she’s shutting up now, right, Evil?” Theta said.
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Evie saluted. She turned and tripped, falling onto her backside in the dirt. “Ow.”
Memphis helped Evie stand. His fingers grazed something solid in the spot where Evie had been sitting. “Sam, would you kindly shine that light over here?”
The beam of light caught the gleam of polished gray in the dirt. Memphis crouched down and brushed away the years of dust. “I think we might’ve found what we’re after.”
“Congratulations, Evil,” Theta said, shuddering. “Seems like your can is a compass after all.”
Evie stared at the mummified remains—the sunken eyes and the exposed, rotted teeth and the tattered, bloodstained dress. “I don’t want to touch a thing on that.… that…” she said, wagging a finger generally in the corpse’s direction. “That.”
“Evil, we gotta know.”
“Okay,” Evie said after a pause. “For Henry, okay.” She struggled to take her gloves off. The half-empty sheaths flapped at the ends of her fingers. “These have stopped working.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Theta tugged the gloves free.
Evie’s mouth twisted into a pained grimace, the scream perched behind her teeth, as her fingers landed on the skeleton. “Why couldn’t I have been a dream walker?” she squeaked. “Why’d it have to be object reading?”
“Come on, Sheba. You can do this.” Sam nudged her.